Dalton McGuinty’s austerity agenda began in earnest with a speech he delivered to the Canadian Club last January in which he said, “it is simply not possible to reduce spending without addressing salary expenditures.”

But after the Ontario Premier’s surprise resignation, and as Mr. McGuinty’s Cabinet colleagues past and present consider runs at the provincial party leadership, it’s possible his austerity plan expired with his leadership on Monday night.

Dwight Duncan, the Finance Minister, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon that welcomed news that union leaders were willing to negotiate with the government on possible wage freezes now that the man they had branded as “worse than Harris” had removed himself from the picture.

“We will work with anyone who is willing to work with us to eliminate the deficit and protect jobs and public services,” Mr. Duncan said. “The McGuinty government has always preferred this approach.”

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The Finance Minister reiterated that the fiscal plan contains no money for incremental compensation increases, a position that suggests the only deals open to public-sector unions are the same wage-freeze deals that were on the table before Mr. McGuinty took his leave.

That may be enough. Warren “Smokey” Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, said Mr. McGuinty was “ducking responsibility for his government’s failed political schemes,” but also that the union would be able to bargain “without a guillotine over our heads” — a reference to the now-dead proposed legislation that would have imposed new contracts on public-sector workers if favourable agreements couldn’t be reached.

But while the unions may be encouraged in the short term by the removal of the government’s legislative hammer, their interest in accepting Mr. Duncan’s hardline approach will wane if the process drags on and particularly if the race to succeed Mr. McGuinty becomes a referendum on his post-election austerity strategy.

The premier is trying to duck a scandal of his own making

Some of the possible contenders for the Liberal leadership are unlikely standard-bearers for a crackdown on union pay. Kathleen Wynne, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, was education minister during the years of labour peace with teachers in which they were awarded generous pay increases. Glen Murray, the downtown Toronto MPP and former mayor of Winnipeg, and Gerard Kennedy, the former MPP, two names floated as leadership possibilities, are similarly left-of-centre in their views.

Mr. Duncan, who on Tuesday was the only Cabinet member to firmly acknowledge he was considering trying to succeed his boss — other ministers said it was too early to talk about such things — would be the natural choice if the Liberals wanted to keep the focus on cost-cutting. But that strategy, which had eroded Mr. McGuinty’s organized labour base, requires sticking to a plan that someone who had won three straight elections appears to have decided was untenable in the next general election.

Evidence of the damage done to the Liberals’ pro-union brand can be seen in the reaction of labour leaders on Tuesday to Mr. McGuinty’s decision to prorogue.

“The premier is trying to duck a scandal of his own making,” said CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn.

“He and his colleagues should have the strength of character to stand in the legislature and face the music over their costly attempt to buy votes by cancelling electricity plant contracts.”

Sam Hammond, the president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said he hoped provincial Liberals “would get back to being Liberals” and adopt a “balanced approach” that would include repealing Bill 115, which imposed wage freezes on teachers.

Will one of the leadership contenders adopt that advice? And will the Liberals heed it? If so, then Mr. McGuinty’s legacy will include a deficit-fighting plan that was unexpectedly short-lived.

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